Record number of migrant deaths at sea, in deserts this year: IOM

September 29, 2014 9:12 PM

18
0

GENEVA (Reuters) - A record 4,077 migrants have died already this year crossing deserts and seas worldwide, three-quarters of them in perilous journeys across the Mediterranean trying to reach Europe, an aid agency said on Monday.

They include an estimated 500 people fleeing Africa and the Middle East feared drowned in a shipwreck off Malta in mid-September after smugglers deliberately rammed their boat, the International Organization for Migration said.